Topics - CorranHorn

At Celebration 6 I bought the Baggie Endor Han below and have since been trying to find information on it. The baggie style seems to match the ESB-H style referenced on the Archive's Guide to Baggies but the example shown for Endor Han doesn't match the baggie I have. I've looked up and down the RS board and while recalling seeing someone post what I believe was an AT-AT Driver in a similar baggie several months ago, I can't find any reference to this style of baggie through the search function.

As you can see from the pic, it is fully sealed and has what appears to be the serrations from the clean tearing off of a larger piece of plastic on Han's right. The bottom also has similar serrations but those look considerably more messy. So I was wondering if anyone know what I have here. Is this an ESB-H baggie and if so what set would this have come from?

At this year's Motor City Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to interview Star Wars artist Matt Busch for my buddy's website. Matt's a talented artist and a really cool guy. I thought I'd share the interview with everyone, so if you're curious as to how Matt got his start illustrating our favorite franchise, check out our conversation at JohngysBeat.com.

The recent Target TVC 9-pack gives those looking for unique ways to display their loose figures and interesting way to do so...

The plastic tray was removed and each figure is standing on the bottom inside of the bubble. The figures are all on REAL stands and if I were to make this a permanent display I'd consider hot gluing the stands to the bubble.

While never a replacement for a true ESB 3-pack, this is a fun way to display loose figures.

Just like at retail, it's holiday clearance time here at my house. All items still available are listed below and I'm now offering the following deals...

* Buy 3 to 6 items and get 10% off!* Buy 7 to 9 items and get 20% off!!* Buy 10 or more items and get 30% off!!!

Prices are marked by each item as I'd like to try to get back what I paid for in most circumstances, but I will take offers. If you see a red X over an item that means it is no longer available. Some things to note:

1.) I accept Check, Money Order, or Cash (if you wish to risk that) for payment. I am not setup for receiving payments by Paypal so I cannot accept that, sorry! Personal checks require 5-10 business days to clear.2.) My work schedule usually doesn't allow me to get to the post office until Saturday so delivery or postal rate inquiries will occur then. 3.) Delivery confirmation is required for all packages and I will do my best to provide exact postal rates (see above).

Please PM me with questions or if you want an item (or 3!). I'm not checking the Forums everyday so if I don't respond back right away don't worry I will get back to you. My feedback from a variety of sources can be seen Here!

From an early age, the Apprentice was secretly raised by Darth Vader, who trained him in the power of the dark side of the Force. By the time the Secret Apprentice reached adulthood, Vader's training had made him one of the most powerful Force-wielders in the galaxy. After Order 66, Vader sent the Secret Apprentice on missions to destroy the last of the Jedi, and he became one the most lethal weapons Vader had at his disposal. (The roleplaying game statistics below represent Vader's protégé fairly early in his apprenticeship, before he manifests his true potential by unleashing the Force.)

This bothers me a bit as it implied Anakin had a hidden apprentice before Revenge of the Sith. Anakin wasn't a knight that long before ROTS, yet he felt he could have an apprentice? Sure he was confident in his own powers, but neither the movies or the established EU give any indication that he felt he could train someone himself. And if this guy has been his apprentice for quite a while before ROTS, why would Anakin take on an apprentice while still being a Padawan himself? What was there for him to gain, is it just a matter of him saying he could do what the Masters could do?

Seems a bit of a stretch to me. I could see Vader having an apprentice after ROTS as he's following the path of the Sith and the Dark Side, but Anakin as a Jedi Padawn with an apprentice while he himself is still training just doesn't sound right. Am I missing something here or has the continual re-writing of the movies and EU struck again?

One of the things that has drawn me as a collector to the vintage Kenner realm is the great photoart that was used on the packaging throughout the vintage line's lifespan. As a kid it helped to catch my eye on the shelf and inspire play activities, as a collector it draws me back to those younger times.

Every now and then I get inspired to make a new desktop wallpaper for my PC using Kenner art (whether photo or a drawing). Mostly I'll take a picture I found on the net and stretch it to fit the resolution of my monitor (1024x768) and then smooth out any distortions. Sometimes, I'll work on the image a bit to fit properly by extending the background. I've got several of these done and I wanted to share them with everyone. Some of the images were found from posts made by fellow collectors sharing a piece of their collection, hopefully they don't mind that I used their piece to make the wallpaper...

(Click on the image for the full-sized wallpaper)

ESB Taun-Taun w/ Hoth Luke & Hoth Han (used in a Toy Fair Catalog):

ESB CAP-2 (used as part of the box-art):

ROTJ AT-AT Walker (used as part of the box-art):

ROTJ Millennium Falcon (used as part of the box-art - one of my favorite pieces of Kenner Photoart):

ROTJ Jabba The Hutt (used as part of the box-art):

ROTJ Ewok Village (I think this was used as part of a POTF era catalog, not sure though):

I put the next one together based on this Palitoy Advertisement than can be seen on the Archive. The resolution for this one is at 1280x1024 as that was the monitor I was using when I put it together.

As I may have mentioned in the past, I'd love to do one based off the Desert Sail Skiff mini rig, but have not been able to find a scan of good enough quality to make it worth the effort.

It's time for a brand new Casting Call at FFURG and this time we're going to join The Dark Side!. Since 2005 when the Sith had their Revenge, the Dark Side of the Force has been prevalent in the Star Wars Universe. From the Knights of the Old Republic video game, to the Legacy of the Force novels and the Legacy comic books, the Dark Side's power has grown.

To celebrate and commiserate with these evil forces, FFURG is presenting The Dark Side Casting Call where customizers can submit their darkest creations based on Dark Siders from the established Star Wars universe - the Six Films and EU (no Fan-Fiction customs please). The Dark Side Casting Call debuts on Sunday, August 19th so make sure to Submit you Dark Side creations by then.

I've been thinking of getting a Jedi Luke with the Snap Pin Cloak, but I'm having a rough go at determining whether or not the snap button is visible on the front of the cloak's right flap. Does anyone have a picture or can point me to a picture of the cloak that could show what it looks like when closed? I've seen several Jedi Luke's on ebay, but am not entirely sure if they have sewn or snap cloaks. Any help would be great.

I've got a number of Kenner items available for sale or for trade (see my wants at the end). I've included a lot of pictures of each item to give you a clear look at the condition of each piece. Prices are listed below and do not include shipping, but feel free to make an offer. Some things to note:

1.) I only ship to the US & Canada, no overseas shipping. Sorry!2.) I accept Check, Money Order, or Cash (if you wish to risk that) for payment. I am not setup for receiving payments by Paypal so I cannot accept that, sorry! Personal checks require 5-10 business days to clear.3.) My work schedule usually doesn't allow me to get to the post office until Saturday so delivery or postal rate inquiries will occur then.4.) Delivery confirmation is required for all packages and I will do my best to provide exact postal rates (see above).

Please PM me with questions or if you want an item (or 3!). I'm not checking the Forums everyday so if I don't respond back right away don't worry I will get back to you. My feedback from a variety of sources can be seen Here!

Vehicles

B-Wing Fighter - complete w/ pilot. This B-Wing is yellowed and definitely in "played with" condition. The cockpit cannon has been severed at the tip, the lower wing cannon was glued in place, and as shown in the picture the tab for the lower wing has cracks in it. The electronics do not work, but the wing assembly still opens. The pilot is in near mint condition - $35

PlaysetsROTJ Jabba the Hutt's Dungeon - near complete w/ all 3 figures, repro instructions, and box. Here we have a near complete ROTJ Jabba's Dungeon playset, the only piece missing from the toy is the pivot pin for the crane. All 3 figures are in good to near mint condition and come with original weapons. The instruction sheet is a photo copy of an original sheet and the box is in fair shape, though one side flap is completely missing. - $45

Land of the Jawas - complete w/ original instructions. This set is complete with a rather sturdy cardboard backdrop. There is a tear in the lower left corner of the cardboard but still displays nicely. The escape pod does show considerable yellowing on one end where it would lay on the plastic base, I've tried to get the pictures to show that. All of the plastic pegs are there as well. - $25

Droid Factory - incomplete w/ original parts list & poor box. This set is primarily for those looking for a good starting point for a boxed item. While the plastic base is in good shape, it's missing a lot of the parts. The box is in rough shape but it still displays nicely as it came out of my personal collection. The sticker on the box side under the paint blotches is from a JCPenney catalog warehouse - $10

ROTJ Jabba the Hutt's Dungeon - incomplete. This is a barebones playset, only contains the crane boom. No stickers on the playset base. - $5

Creatures

Patrol Dewback - incomplete. This Dewback is in good shape but is missing the reins. - $10

Jabba the Hutt - missing right arm. Not much to say here, Jabba is incomplete and missing his right arm. Could be good for someone looking to complete a set, ya know if you have a right arm. - $2

So I've been thinking lately that Vintage sub-sections to the Trading and Classified sections would be cool feature to have here at JD. It sometimes proves a bit difficult to search the Trading or Classified sections for vintage postings and I thought it would be great to have an area in each section dedicated just for vintage deals. It would certainly make dealings easier and it might even help to bring more of the older vintage crowd over to JD as has been talked about in the past. This shouldn't in anyway isolate the vintage collectors from the modern collectors as it has happened at other sites, but would make things easier. So what do you say, how about Vintage sub-sections?

So I was just messing around on the Hasbro Star Wars Arcade page and came across a little fun game where you have a Luke action figure deflect bolts from training orbs. The thing is, I didn't recognize the Luke figure at all, here's a screen capture I made from the game...

Could this be an all-new Tatooine Luke for The Saga Collection? The wrists appear to be articulated and the legs look unique, especially at the knees (joints and tattered pants?). Also in the game, his head moves up and down as if it's on a ball joint. Could this be an all new figure or did I just miss this at some point in the last couple years since I don't need any more Tat. Lukes...

I recently got a Bespin blaster whose plastic is far more translucent than I've ever seen before. I'm aware that some of the early 21 figures came with weapons that had a translucent flare along the edges, most notably Chewbacca's bowcaster, but I've not heard anything about a weapon whose translucence goes deep. And until doing research on the topic I had not heard of any ESB-era weapons having the translucent flare, but apparently it was the case with 31-back figures.

But now I have this Bespin blaster who is translucent for the majority of it's bottom half and a pinch up top. I don't believe it to be a repro as it does not have any of the telltale signs of a repro, when away from a concentrated light source it matches the color of other blasters, it is molded accordingly, and the drop sound is ok.

So I'm curious to know what I have here, is this a blaster that just had a bad piece of plastic during the molding process 25 years ago? Is this something more commonly found than I'm aware of?

Here's a comparison pic with a regular Bespin blaster, the translucent one is on top.

I just picked up this set on Tuesday and overall I think it's a really cool collector's piece. The overall quality of the figures and accessories makes this a sure hit from Hasbro. Here's a breakdown of each figure in the set, along with some pictures I took just for kicks...

Episode 2 Anakin Skywalker - A sturdy and well built figure with a nice array of articulation at 12 points. I was a bit surprised not to find the ankle articulation the other two figures have, but it certainly does not detract from the overall presentation of the figure. What does detract however is the hideous headsculpt this poor guy has. The time frame between E2 and E3 is 3 years, so one would expect E2 Anakin to have similar facial features of E3 Anakin, but he doesn't. Instead we get a huge forehead and a "duh" look on the face as his mouth is left open. The rest of the sculpt of the figure works nicely and though it doesn't show in the pic above, E2 Anakin is a wee bit smaller than E3 Anakin. The detailing on the clothes and boots work nicely and the "leather" outer tunic/skirt combo looks nice, though it feels a bit flimsy and I was fearful of tearing it. A nice touch with the swappable hands from flesh to robotic, but the robot hand's peg doesn't seem to want to stay in the arm hole, not good. In the end this is a good figure, certainly better than any E2 Anakin released before, but the head sculpt really detracts from this guy and along with a couple of other minor points, leads this guy to a 6.

Episode 3 Anakin Skywalker - To me this was really the driving point in getting this set as I already have enough E2 Anakins and Vaders and I thought all of the E3 Anakins available were crap. The overall sculpt of this figure is fantastic, the head looks as close to E3 Anakin as possible, although the paintjobs on the two sets I saw had flaws. The set I picked up, has Anakin's eyes painted a bit oddly and the set I left behind at the store had rough yet glossy paintjob on the face that made the great headsculpt look bad. The detailing on the body is top notch, from the buckles on the right glove to the folds on the tunic, to the creases in the boots, the sculptor really did a great job here. What hits a snag in the overall look to me is the overly big left arm as it looks a bit bulky compared to either right arm. This figure is almost an SA figure, I say almost because even though it has 14 pts of articulation, it has the lame cut elbow joints instead of the far superior ball joints that the E2 Anakin got. At first, I thought that was ok because they did the right arm swap feature, but then I got to thinking, why have that feature when we never see Anakin in his tunic with his glove off. If they skipped that feature, they could easily have done ball jointed elbows and made this truly SA. Also of note is the softgoods skirt that this figure has, while it certainly is nice, it was designed such that it partially inhibits the movement of the legs at the hips, I think that could have been avoided if the skirt wasn't so tight on the figure. Nonetheless, this has quickly become one of my favorite ROTS figures as it certainly is one of the best and it gets a rating of 8 from me.

Original Trilogy Darth Vader - Even though the box labels this as E4 Vader, I rather dub it the more generic OT Vader as it has features seen in Vader in ESB and ROTJ. Since the Commtech Vader, it's been hard for Hasbro to screw up a new Vader figure and they certainly didn't here. The sculpt and look is what you would come to expect, including 15 pts of articulation, but nothing really new until we get to the head. The removable helmet gives us a look at the disfigured visage of Anakin in all his glory from ROTJ. It's a really great sculpt and certainly trumps previous efforts and what's really neat is the head moves inside the breathing apparatus, so technically the head has 2 pts of articulation! The only catch, at least on my Vader is that the helmet is rather loose and will fall off with the slightest budge. It doesn't appear to have the best fit. The paintjob was vibrant in all areas except on the shoulder armor. The silver wasn't so shiny, which I would guess translates to the ANH look or Hasbro just being lazy. What bothers me about the sculpt is the right hand, as it's opened in a similar fashion to the SAGA Bespin Vader. While a nice nod to ESB, it prevents this figure from realistically holding his lightsaber in both hands. The softgoods look good on this figure and it's a nice touch to have it along each side of his body. They've yet to get the chain around his neck right, but to be honest at this point I've given up on Hasbro getting it right. Overall, this is likely the best Darth Vader figure we'll ever see as it beats out the VOTC Vader due to the ball-jointed elbows and as such gets a rating of 8

Accessories - This set does come with a nice handful of accessories, though some of the execution comes off odd. Starting with the lightsabers, why two Anakin handles but only one blade? What if we want both Anakins to have lit sabers? I had heard that some people were questioning what the handles were the same, I feel it's because the Anakins don't just cover the movies, but the Clone Wars as well. E2 Anakin goes from AOTC thru the first 2 seasons of the CW toon, while E3 Anakin goes from the 3rd season of CW thru ROTS, as such the saber handle would be from when it was built during the Clone Wars. Still, not having two saber blades is just stupid, but being able to put the handles on their belts is a nice plus. And why doesn't the Vader saber have a removable blade while the Anakin saber does? That seems rather contradictory. The detailing on all of the removable arms is nice, but as I mentioned the E2 Anakin robot arm doesn't seem to want to stay in place and the E3 Anakin robot arm is redundant and alters the articulation possible for that figure. But still its nice to have a choice of arms available. The removable robes look nice and have a smooth texture to them, however they're rather bulky on either Anakin. This is something Hasbro still can't seem to get right with these types of robes, maybe one day... The chain for E2 Anakin looks nice, but is rigid and doesn't lend well to much playability. Overall, outside of the swappable arms, the accessories are not anything we haven't seen before, and even the arms are a stretch. It would have been nice if we had gotten some stands with this set something to denote each figure, but oh well. I think the accessories overall get a 6, if for anything else the total number of items we got.

So if grading the whole set by averaging the individual scores, this set would get a 7, but that's by letting the E2 Anakin and the accessories lower the grade. So screw that, the E3 Anakin and Vader deserve more, so I'm going to give the entire set a rating of 8! I hope you've enjoyed this review and the pictures as I was having some fun with my camera as you can see. What are your thoughts on this set, does it meet your standards and should the concept survive, or should the H move on?

I just picked up a 2nd AT-RT Driver and noticed a variation on it. Now I've heard it brought up before, but I can't find any info on which is the correct version. The variation is in the paint ops on the helmet. My first AT-RT Driver has a less than stellar, but yet still fully painted in the front, "brown-green" face mask, all the way up and through the eyes. The new one I bought today has the "brown-green" stopping about 2/3rd of the way up and then is just white up and thru the eyes. So which one is the right one, i.e. the one Hasbro has intended for us to have. The packaging shows the scheme to like that of the 2nd figure I have, but you know the H, they're never one to do things totally right.